« Espaces et femmes », numéro spécial des Cahiers de géographie du Québec

Towards trans-feminist coalitions in the post-Yugoslav space: Building feminist radical solidarities

“…Inspired by lesbian sexuality, de Lauretis (1990) argued that we need to learn to conceive ourselves as the “eccentric subject” – as eccentric to the heterosexual, traditional codes (applying to body and language).What characterizes the eccentric subject is a double displacement: first, the psychic displacement of erotic energy onto a figure that exceeds the categories of sex and gender, the figure Wittig called “the lesbian”; second, the self-displacement or disidentification of the subject from the cultural assumptions and social practices attendant upon the categories of gender and sex. (de Lauretis, 2003, online)…”

“…On top of this, it appears that feminists cannot agree whether one is born or becomes a woman. The imaginary utopian conceptual space that Wittig created with her statement opened further with de Lauretis (1990; 2003) and her differentiation between Beauvoir's “One is not born but becomes a woman” and Wittig's “One is not born a woman ” (original emphases):Almost the same words, and yet such a difference in meaning – not to say such a sexual difference. In shifting the emphasis from the word born to the word woman, Wittig’s citation of de Beauvoir’s phrase invoked or mimicked the heterosexual definition of woman as “the second sex,” at once destabilizing its meaning and displacing its affect.…”

“…In shifting the emphasis from the word born to the word woman, Wittig’s citation of de Beauvoir’s phrase invoked or mimicked the heterosexual definition of woman as “the second sex,” at once destabilizing its meaning and displacing its affect. (de Lauretis, online, 2003)…”

“…What characterizes the eccentric subject is a double displacement: first, the psychic displacement of erotic energy onto a figure that exceeds the categories of sex and gender, the figure Wittig called “the lesbian”; second, the self-displacement or disidentification of the subject from the cultural assumptions and social practices attendant upon the categories of gender and sex. (de Lauretis, 2003, online)…”